Communicating successfully amid political and social dissent

Matt Purdue is senior strategist at Magnitude, Inc. 

On the morning of November 6, communications professionals woke up to a changed world. They learned that Donald Trump was returning to the White House, and the Republican party was on its way to taking control of the United States Congress.

Working effectively in this altered landscape has been a hot topic of conversation at Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference. Communicators who are not already preparing for the impact of this sea change in Washington risk being caught flatfooted when (not if) new policies and legislation affect their internal and external stakeholders.

A quick look at history shows that during the first 100 days of the Trump administration in 2017, the president signed 28 bills, 24 executive orders, 22 memoranda and 20 proclamations. This time around, expect more of the same beginning on Inauguration Day: Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.

Engaging with internal audiences

“Employees are now corporations’ loudest, largest, most active stakeholders,” Beth Archer, director of corporate communications for Constellation Energy, told the Future of Communications audience. Now is the time to connect with them to discern what political and societal issues they are most concerned about.

Joanna Piacenza, vice president of thought leadership with Gravity Research, offered a hint of what they may be thinking. She presented recent data from her company showing that executives feel most pressured to address LGBTQ rights, climate change, racial equity and the Israel-Hamas conflict.

At the same time, employees are increasingly discussing politics in the office. Gravity Research data saw a 9-point jump in these occurrences between the second and third quarters of 2024.

How to manage this rising tide while keeping employees happy and productive? Archer and Piacenza advise to establish consistent guidelines for when your organization will speak out to employees versus staying neutral. It’s also important to teach leaders and managers how to watch for and handle touchy political topics by flipping destructive internal discussions into constructive dialogue.

Lean on your ERGs

Employee resource groups (ERGs) can be invaluable for successfully navigating internal communications. Piacenza pointed out that 73% of companies use ERGs to communicate internally on societal issues.

However, only 41% hold regular meetings between ERGs and leadership to talk about these topics. And only 11% have ERG representatives on leadership groups that make decisions about these issues. It’s smart for organizations to buck these trends, strengthen ties with their ERGs and use them to help make tough choices.

“Use ERGs to gut-check your communications strategy and statements,” Archer said. “Hold internal focus groups with your ERG leaders to ensure effective partnerships.”

Readying for external pressures

Communicators also need to focus on reputational risks with external audiences in what’s sure to be a polarized environment. Organizations are much more liable to be criticized for seeming to support particular politicians, candidates or issues.

To mitigate these risks, the key is to boost a company’s goodwill now before a problem bubbles up. Scott Radcliffe, global director of cybersecurity with FleishmanHillard, explained that if an organization is wrongly criticized for something it didn’t do, “proving a negative” can be very difficult. “That’s why it’s important to build up brand reputation ahead of time,” he said.

Simultaneously, companies must take a hard look in the mirror to identify their potential political and societal vulnerabilities and prepare crisis communications plans in case external stakeholders call them out. “So many companies say, ‘We are good. We don’t have any issues.’ But it’s malpractice to not do anything,” said Eleanor McManus, co-founder of Trident DMG. “You need to prepare and put your policies in place.”

McManus added that conducting a “crisis audit” involves pinpointing at least the top five issues that could cause problems for the organization, then developing protocols to communicate about them. Identify which external audiences you should engage with (media, business partners, regulators, shareholders, community members, etc.) and craft messages appropriate for each group.

The experts also advised assembling a group including communications, legal and human resources teams to evaluate risks and agree on crisis communications strategy long before it’s needed – with the comms team taking the lead. “Legal tends to not want to say anything. HR tends to say things that no one understands,” said McManus. “It’s up to us as communicators to be truthful, clear and authentic.”